


Vodka, Shots

by lasvegas_lights



Series: Drinks and Drumming [4]
Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-28 22:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13281597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lasvegas_lights/pseuds/lasvegas_lights
Summary: Amanda starts to feel insecure as she and Martin pass their 1 year anniversary. It's up to Cross, a lot of vodka and Martin saying all the right things to fix it.





	Vodka, Shots

**Author's Note:**

> This idea suddenly came to me and I had to write it! Thanks to setmeatopthepyre for the advice and support :D

Amanda woke up late, much later than usual. She could tell how late it was by the cold spot in the bed where Martin normally was. She flung one arm out from the covers and fumbled for her cell phone which she always left by the side of the bed. Cracking one eye open she saw it was after eleven and swore.

Martin must have turned her alarm off.

She threw back the sheets, shivering slightly until she found her dressing gown in a puddle on the carpet and pulled it on. As she padded out of the bedroom, her muscles protested at the movement, reminding her of what her and Martin had gotten up to the night before. They had always been _enthusiastic_ but last night, celebrating their one year anniversary, had been something else entirely.

Martin was leaning against the worktop, halfway through a mug of coffee when Amanda strode into the kitchen, the tiles cold against her bare feet. She loved him like this: missing his shirt and glasses his hair all rumpled. This where he was relaxed and she could see past the gruff exterior that everyone else outside their bubble didn’t get to see.

“Morning,” He greeted her.

She crossed the room and jumped up onto the worktop beside him with a smile, “And a very good morning to you too,” She dropped her head to kiss his shoulder. “You turned off my alarm?”

“I thought you could do with the extra sleep,” Martin responded, “After…you know.”

“Thank you,” She pressed further kisses along his shoulder and up his neck, “And thank you for yesterday too.”

It didn’t take many more kisses for Martin to put down his mug and turn to Amanda, fitting himself between her legs to kiss her properly. Her hands looped around his neck as his went to her thighs and she hummed against his lips as she felt his hands travel up her body and tug at the belt of her dressing gown.

When needing air became an issue, they broke apart, breathing heavily with foreheads rested together. Martin had pulled at the belt enough to gain access to what was underneath and Amanda gasped as his fingers lit her skin on fire. She spread her legs even further and tugged Martin in closer until she could feel his erection through the denim.

Amanda let Martin pull the dressing gown off her shoulders and she arched her back, cupping the back of his head as he began kissing his way down her neck and across her breasts.

“Martin?”

The couple froze as they heard Vogel’s voice and a second later footsteps entering the kitchen.

“Oh god!” Vogel slapped a hand over his eyes dramatically.

Amanda yanked the dressing gown back around her, grateful to Martin who was using his body to block Vogel from seeing too much.

“Fuck, Vogel,” Martin groaned, “What have we told you about knocking.”

Turning only when Amanda was decent. She’d lost count the amount of times Vogel had let himself into the apartment, luckily most of the time Amanda and Martin were doing something boring like eating or watching TV.

“Sorry boss!” Vogel said, “I didn’t see anything, I promise.”

Amanda sighed, “What do you want Vogel?”

“The uh, new bartender is here Boss, she’s waiting downstairs for you.”

“Thanks Vogel, I’ll be down soon,” Martin answered and Vogel practically skipped out of the room.

Amanda raised an eyebrow. _New bartender?_ “You hired someone new?”

Martin reached for his mug, “Yeah”

“You never said anything about hiring someone new,” She frowned.

He downed the now lukewarm coffee and took the empty mug to the sink, “Didn’t know I had to okay new hires for my bar past you,” He said, a little harshly than Amanda was expecting.

Amanda rolled his eyes, “I didn’t say that…Just would have been nice to know.”

“Hey Drummer…I hired someone,” He said, before turning his back to her and leaving the room. Martin’s body against hers had warmed her up, with their earlier activities now forgotten, she felt a shiver go down her spine.

* * *

Amanda wasn’t the overly jealous type. You couldn’t be when women tried their luck with the hot mohawked bartender every night. But maybe it never bothered her because there was a thick wooden bar between her boyfriend and the drunk women he was serving.

Now here she was, sat in a booth on her own, trying not to glare daggers into the hot new female bartender. Bea had a body to die for, striking dyed hair all the colours of the rainbow and knew all the words to Wendimoor’s songs. Amanda hated her already.

Within days of her starting, she had Martin and the boys under her spell and they joked and laughed with her like she’d been working there for years.

“Isn’t she cool?” Vogel had gushed, completely missing the eye roll from her.

She watched as Bea brushed past Martin a little too closely, lean across him to reach something she could have walked around him to retrieve and Amanda had to sit there and watch it happen in front of her.  

Amanda didn’t want to be that girlfriend. The one that got all possessive and untrusting. She did trust Martin not to cheat on her. What she couldn’t stop, what would break her heart, would be Martin falling for someone else and breaking up with her.

She should have expected something like this to happen. They had past the milestone for the longest relationship she had been in a month or so ago and she was now in uncharted waters. The other shoe was bound to drop eventually.

In two gulps, she downed the rest of her drink, feeling the alcohol burning in her stomach as she crossed the room and dipped under the bar. Moving through the back room to get back upstairs, she spotted the work rota on a clipboard nailed to the wall. It was a clean sheet, a new rota now including Bea into the mix.

As she stepped up to the clipboard, she saw that her shifts had been cut back to two and Bea’s name was printed where her name used to be. Fuck.

* * *

It was bound to come to ahead eventually.

Over the past few weeks Amanda had felt herself pulling away from Martin. It was the only thing she could do to protect herself for if…when Martin left her.

She hadn’t been sure Martin had noticed at first, busy with the bar and end of the year taxes which fried his brain, especially seeing as it had been the longest they’d gone without having sex since his car accident.

“Coming downstairs?” He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She shook her head and shrugged him off. The last thing she wanted to do was go down and watch Martin and Bea behind the bar together. She stared at the TV, but knew Martin well enough to know he was looking at her with a puzzled expression.

“Everything okay?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Oh I don’t know” Martin sat down on the corner of the coffee table in front of her, blocking her view of the TV on purpose “Maybe because you won’t look at me, you don’t wanna be down at the bar anymore, we’ve barely...you know” Martin let out a sigh and scratched his head “I’ve done somethin’ to piss you off, not sure what, but can you just tell me so I can apologise?”

Amanda shook her head and rose to her feet, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“You cut my shifts, hired someone new to take them.”

“That’s why you’re pissed?” Martin frowned “I thought you would appreciate having more time, to find another job”

“Find another job?”

“You said it yourself, this was only temporary,” Martin shrugged.

Amanda felt sick, a weight resting heavy inside her. _Only temporary_. She backed away from Martin, “I need…to go,” On her way out the door she grabbed her purse, ignoring Martin as he called for her to come back.

* * *

She ran out of the bar like it was on fire, not noticing Cross following behind her.

Only when she was out on the sidewalk did she stop. She bent over and sucked in the fresh air.

“Hey!”

She spun around, almost tripping herself up in the process.

“Everything okay?” Cross asked, joining her on the sidewalk, “You ran out so quick.”

Amanda looked at Cross and wondered what would happen when Martin kicked her out of the apartment. Would she get to hang out with Cross, Gripps and Vogel? Or would she lose them in the break up? She didn’t realise she was shaking until Cross’ heavy leather jacket was placed on her shoulders.

“I just needed to get out of there.

He slung an arm over her shoulders and grinned, “Well, I’ve just finished for the night and I know the way to the _second-best_ bar in town. How about we go and you can tell Agony-Uncle-Cross all about it.”

“Okay” She nodded.

Cross howled happily and lead her in the direction of his car.

* * *

Five vodka shots and two beers later, Amanda was warm and loose and unable to see straight.

“I’m screwing everything up,” She complained.

“Martin…he hired this really beautiful woman, cuts my shifts down so I’m not needed downstairs, what else am I supposed to think?” She grabbed the bottle out of Cross’ grip and gulped from it until Cross grabbed it back from her.

 “What the hell are you talking about?” Crossed asked, downing his sixth shot and slamming the glass down on the table they had commandeered.

“Is he sick of me? Is that why he’s pushing me away?”

“Okay” Cross moved the half empty bottle of vodka away from Amanda “You’re not making a lick of sense girl.”

"I don’t know what to do.”

Cross rolled his eyes, “You’re supposed to realise that Martin is head over heels for you, has been since the first day he walked into that damn coffee shop.”

“Huh?”

“He came back with that coffee cup in his hand and wouldn’t shut up about the brunette barista with the drumming skills.”

Her lips felt numb as she licked them and her heart pounded in her chest, “He did?”

“He’s an idiot Amanda, a besotted idiot,” Cross explained softly, “But if you want to sort things out with him, it’s him you should be talking to, not me.”

“I know,” she sighed, “But first….I’m going to puke.”

* * *

Cross ascended the stairs slowly, attempting to keep Amanda steady over his shoulder. She was hammered and had already thrown up twice, once in the bar and once out the taxi window. He hoped the taxi would still be waiting for him when he returned from dropping his friend off.

He lifted a fist and rapped at the front door three times. Waiting for the door to open, he shifted his wait from one foot to the other and snorted at Amanda’s babbling.

The door swung open suddenly, Martin appearing in the doorway.

“I believe this one’s yours,” Cross motioned his head towards the woman over his shoulder. He bent down enough for Martin to place his hands around Amanda’s waist and lift her off Cross.

“Heyyy,” Amanda grinned up at Martin. She stumbled and Martin quickly pulled her against him for stability.

“Really Cross?”

Cross shrugged, “Looked like she needed it.” He turned and jumped down the stairs, “See you tomorrow Boss!” He called back before disappearing through the door.

“Okay,” Martin slipped an arm under her knees and lifted Amanda into his arms. The door was kicked shut behind them as he carried her in their bedroom. She wasn’t much use as he carefully removed her top and jeans and then helped her into one the t-shirts she liked to wear in bed. She flopped back on the bed and Martin lifted her feet up to tuck her under the covers.

He left the room briefly, returning with a glass of water to find Amanda buried deep in all the covers. Placing the glass down on her nightstand before undressing and sliding into his side of the bed.

“Martin?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

“Shhh, go to sleep, we’ll talk in the morning.”

* * *

Amanda was woken early by her stomach doing somersaults and scrambled to the bathroom just in time to throw up in the toilet.

She dropped onto the linoleum like a lead weight and groaned. The relief was temporary and a second wave of nausea hit and she heaved into the toilet again.

Footsteps caught her attention and she looked up blearily at Martin. “I’m dying,” she moaned.

“You’re not _dying,_ ” He helped her rinse her mouth out, then picked up a flannel from beside the sink, held it under the tap to dampen it and pressed it against Amanda’s forehead.

“Better?”

“Hmm” She hummed. “Why are you looking after me?”

Martin looked confused, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“We fought, and I left.”                

“Not our first fight Drummer.”

“You hired Bea.”

“Really not sure how the two are connected”

Amanda sighed, taking the flannel from Martin and wringing it in her hands. “She’s pretty, like really pretty…and funny and the guys love her and you don’t want me downstairs as much and I’m putting two and two together here…”

“You think I…” Martin realised what she was saying and his eyes widened.

“It’s been a year,” Amanda dropped her gaze, unable to look at Martin and what expression would be on his face. “Maybe you’re tired of me…. you said it was only temporary.”

“Oh Drummer,” She felt him stroke her hair softly, “The job, the job was temporary, never _you_. You said yourself that you wanted the job until you found something else. I thought I was helping you, I know you don’t want to be stuck behind the bar with me for the rest of your life, you’re too talented for that,” She said nothing, but leaned into the hand in her hair. “And Bea? she’s nice to look at” Martin admitted, “But she’s no you.”

Amanda kept her eyes down, staring at a mark on the floor.

“Amanda,” He said softly and her eyes snapped up suddenly. She wasn’t used to him saying her name like that “I can’t imagine my life without you in it…you’re _it_ for me.”

She didn’t think Martin was the marrying type and to be honest, she didn’t think she was either, but she was pretty sure that was the closest thing Martin would come to proposing.

Her face crumpled and her eyes began to leak, “Asshole” She said, which sounded more like a term of endearment than an insult. She was always a little more emotional when hungover.

“Hey, none of that darlin’,” Martin brushed a tear away. “We’re gonna clean you up and then back into bed okay?” He leant forward to press a kiss to her forehead. She nodded silently and then reached out for Martin. He pulled her into his arms, making sure he didn’t squeeze her too tightly.

“I’m an idiot,” She croaked.

“Yeah,” Martin whispered back. “But you’re my idiot.”


End file.
